#i should turn that into a proper sideblog....

[kirkwallsquad]

remembered that i have like 50 sideblogs... i should actually do something with those

[buryyourthoughts]

Downpour

Ellie Williams x f!reader

Summary: You head to your boyfriends house early to surprise him for your 6 month anniversary date and get the shock of your life. Modern AU I guess.

a/n: I haven't written fanfics in YEARS but I've been so inspired by all the other amazing writers for TLOU ❤️ This is so un proofread and hidden on my NSFW sideblog lmfao but let me know what you think!!

contents: Slight abuse warning, slight drug and alcohol mention, cheating, angst, fluff.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You hated going on dates. Every single one you had to plan and organise and pay for but you did it for him. You felt bad that you made more at your part-time office job alongside uni so you paid for all your dates together and he never offered to change this. However this was your 6-month anniversary so you pulled out all the stops to prove you were the best girlfriend. He had been distant lately which had you concerned but every time you tried to talk about it, he brushed you off.

You went dress shopping with Dina earlier this week and found an amazing deep red dress that showed off your chest but was flowy and kept it "restaurant appropriate". You had a million other slutty dresses that you loved but he didn't like it when you showed off too much skin. You even went out your way to get some lacey lingerie that you know he likes if his instagram likes were anything to go by. That should have been your first red flag but he reassured you that he was just looking for present ideas for you and you believed him.

You quickly checked your watch and cursed at the time showing, he was always running behind so the earlier you turned up, the better. You knew the lingerie hiding beneath your clothes would put him in a good mood so you threw on a big jacket and grabbed your umbrella to protect yourself from the downpour outside and headed over.

You posted a quick selfie to your group chat for some courage on your walk over and Dina replied instantly with

"You're hot babe 🔥 he wont know what hit him 😉 "

"You're still with him, fr?? Cute dress tho." Ellie's reply came through seconds later.

You knew they both didn't really like your boyfriend but really, he was sweet when he wanted to be. He was just a bit rough around the edges, he said no one had ever really shown him "proper romance and love" before so you felt it was up to you to show him how you wanted to be treated. He hadn't really started to be super romantic yet but it had only been six months so you weren't worried, everyones relationships started out like this, right?

You got to his apartment block and shook off the excess water from your umbrella and left it in the entrance to drip dry before you headed out later. After going up the elevator you paused in front of his door, biting your lip. You were suddenly really nervous, a sinking feeling appearing in your stomach as you pulled out his spare key from under his doormat to let yourself in. The door closed softly behind you and you didn't immediately hear or see him. Your phone lit up his hallway as you were about to text him when you heard some noise coming from his bedroom. You locked your phone again and headed over, the click of your heels echoing in his dim hallway. You figured that he was actually getting ready on time for once, you could hear his music playing now and you smiled to yourself at the thought of him singing or dancing in the shower getting ready for your date.

You turned the door knob softly so you didn't startle him and headed in.

"Surprise baby-" you started, the door continued to open on its own to reveal the awful scene in front of you.

There he was, tangled and sweaty in his sheets with some random brown haired woman. She was bent over, face in the sheets and he was drilling her from behind. Her lewd moans filled the room and you felt claustrophobic. You couldn't think, you couldn't speak. You just stood there, open-mouthed and shocked.

"Y/N! It's not what it looks like, I promise!! She's just a friend!" He started, pulling out and yanking his sheets up over himself and the woman. Did he think you were stupid? You couldn't even see a condom.

"No, Levi don't, please. I'm not fighting you on this, I'm leaving". You managed to say. You honestly surprised yourself, you've never broken up with anyone before and if you were honest, you were a bit of a pushover. You believed in second chances, maybe third and fourth chances too but that's just the way you were. You spun on your heel and started to leave when he ran after you, now half clothed. You stumbled when his hands grabbed your waist, he turned you around and pushed you against the wall in his hallway.

"Y/N, please don't go, I promise she means nothing to me. I just had to let some steam out!" He was really close to you now, breath stinking of alcohol fanning out on your face.

"Please just let me leave, I don't want to fight on this." you whispered. His towering body was intimidating you now and you were starting to lose your bravery from earlier. You arms were held to your side by his strong hands. You had turned your face to get away from his breath but he wouldn't let you look away.

"Don't be such a bitch, it's not my fault that you won't sleep with me! What was I supposed to do?". Your heart shattered in this moment. He knew you wanted to wait, you had made mistakes before and slept with people too early and it led to your heart being broken so you decided this time that you would wait. You had really only planned on waiting a couple months, maybe four tops but as time went on you noticed you just didn't have any interest with sleeping with him. You had brushed it off as nerves and had decided that tonight was the night, and you wanted it to be special. You even had candles and fake rose petals hidden in your bag for after your date.

"LOOK AT ME" he yelled, your face squished in one of his hands. You froze, not breathing and staring into his eyes in the darkened hallway. You briefly wondered where this other woman was right now when his hand came down on your cheek, smacking you out of your daze.

"Are you even going to listen to me?" He continued, shaking your body against the wall. You quickly pushed his chest and ran out, dropping his spare key in the hallway. You rushed to the elevator and pressed the ground floor button multiple times to hurry it along. You felt weird, like you weren't really here. You face still stung from his slap but you couldn't think about that right now. You could feel the wetness of tears on your cheeks but it didn't feel like you were crying yet despite your heaving chest.

Your phone buzzed in your hands, it was him. You quickly declined his call and blocked his number. A few texts had come through from your dorm group chat that you browsed as a distraction until you left his building although reading about who had slept with who this week didn't entertain you like it normally would. The rain was still pouring down but you didn't even think about your umbrella in his building, you just walked out and kept walking until you couldn't anymore. Searching around you quickly found a bench in the entrance to the nearby park and headed towards it, as you were striding forward you tripped on a piece of raised pavement and twisted your ankle and fell to the floor in a heap.

Great. you thought, just what I need right now.

You examined your ankle, it stung but seemed ok. Your knees and shin had started to bleed and one of your heels had broken off. The tears really started to fall now, at least with the rain passerby's could barely tell you were sobbing. You pushed yourself off the ground and hobbled over to the nearby bench and slumped down and continued to sob. How could this have happened? Should you have been a better girlfriend? You always cheered him on when his band played at a local pub, handing out flyers in your uni or on the street. Selling t-shirts and organising adverts. Should you have just slept with him?

You immediately shook your head, trying to rid yourself of this thought. Suddenly your phone lit up, it was a text from Ellie that simply read "You ok?". You sniffed and unlocked your phone and dialed her number.

"Hey y/n! Everything ok?" she asked. Only two rings, she must be bored.

"H-he cheated" you cried. "Can you come get me? please?" you begged. You hoped she would, Ellie always knew how to cheer you up. You knew Dina would cheer you up as well but there was just something about Ellie that was different. She always made you smile and you felt safe in her company. You always looked forward to seeing her whenever you could find time between your coursework, job and your boyfriend. Ex- boyfriend you reminded yourself.

"Uhh, yeh sure! Are you ok though? Can you send me your location?" Panic creeping into her voice. In your head you could see her biting her lip and rubbing the back of her neck, she always did this when she was nervous. You quickly sent your location and mumbled "Yeh, no I'm fine, just come get me El?". After agreeing and promising to be as quick as she could.

Not long after you hung up, her truck pulled up across the road and she jumped out and ran over.

"Y/N! You're soaked! Did you not bring anything?" Her hands rested on your arms and you flinched slightly and you looked up at her. You felt like you couldn't speak, your eyes staring into hers when the tears started again. Ellie's eyes filled with concern as she took in your drenched form.

"You were both right" you sobbed, "he's an asshole and I hate him". The scene in front of Ellie wasn't quite what she was expecting. As much as Ellie hated your boyfriend, she didn't really want to be right, not like this when you were clearly so distraught.

"Can you take me home?" you plead.

"Of course, pretty girl. How 'bout I take you to mine? I can make us some dinner and put on those shit movies you like. You know you like my couch better!" she joked, now squatted down to your eye level. You liked her whole apartment more than your own, It was just so Ellie and it always smelled amazing.

"Can we smoke too?" you asked. The quicker you forgot about tonight the better. She grabbed your hands and got you standing and you wobbled, forgetting that your heal was broken and you had hurt yourself in this whole ordeal.

"Fuck, sorry Ellie. Can you help?" her eyes widened in concern, noticing the blood moving down your leg before picking you up bridal style, a small scream making it past your lips at the movement.

"My knight in shining armour." you joked, hand dramatically going to your forehead and giggling. Ellie huffed out a laugh and carried you over to her truck, opening the door and popping you in.

"Always for you, darlin' " Ellie said "Y'know I picked up a new strain as well that we can try, my treat" she winked at the end and you felt your face heat up and she closed the door. You sighed and sunk down in your seat, fastening your seatbelt whilst you waited for her. More often than not your cheeks were hot and your belly felt tight when you were around Ellie, she was such a casual flirt and you tried to not think about they way it was making you feel right now.

"Right, let's get you home and dry otherwise you're gonna catch a cold and I will be checking those cuts so don't think you can get out of it this time." Ellie always took care of you, even if it was a paper cut she would be there with a plaster and some alcohol on a cotton pad in an instant. It was almost like she had a sixth sense for you.

Ellie's hand rested comfortably on your thigh, spreading some warmth through your stomach whenever she squeezed it. You flicked on her radio for some background noise whilst she drove, you noticed that she was looking over at you every couple minutes, eyes scanning your face for a reaction but your face remained neutral. All you could honestly think about was the hand on your bare thigh. Her hand had wiggled its way under your dress and it sent your head spinning.

To distract yourself you quickly pulled down the mirror to scan your face, finally seeing the red finger and palm marks appearing on your cheek, hopefully Ellie hadn't noticed this yet with the cold and her flirting previously staining your cheeks. Ellie was fiercely loyal to her friends, but you noticed that she defends you the most and has punched men in clubs before for harassing you so who knows what she would do.

"Hey pretty girl" She said, turning her truck off "Y'there?" She tapped the side of your head bringing your attention back to here. You quickly smiled at her, and began unbuckling yourself, Ellie was already out and running to your side to help.

"Thank you Els, really." you replied solemnly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: I won't lie, I've forgotten how tf to end a chapter so I simply just ended it. I have some ideas for a second chapter but I want smut and i'm AWFUL at writing it lmfao. Any tips or requests are appreciated 💕

[heymacy]

hello little stars ✨ and welcome back to Tag Game Twos-day! where we play two tag games: our traditional q&a and a picrew!

name: m a c y

your birthday: july 7th

where in the world are you? the windy city 🏙️

when did you join tumblr? 2011

do you have any sideblogs? yes! four

mobile or desktop? both have their merits but i’d say for me personally it’s a solid 50/50 split 📱💻

your perfect sleeping conditions: 65° with the fan on, piles and piles and piles of blankets 🥰

a movie you think everyone should see at least once: Some Like It Hot. and no, i will never stop singing this film’s praises!

what shoes do you wear the most often? either my black converse (regular life) or my black combat boots (work) 🖤

describe your keys to me: i have a hot pink heart shaped carabiner that holds my building key, apartment key, mail key, car key, and a tiny lego baby yoda/grogu keychain 🗝️

find the book closest to you. turn to page 7. what’s the 7th word? you

what’s your favorite snack? cheetos

one of your aspirations: to write a proper novel 📝

and finally, tell me a random fact about yourself: i’m the eldest of four children which explains…a lot

and now, PICREW? PICREW ✨

i’m tagging @gardenerian, @iansfreckles, @nicksobotka, @heymrspatel, @metalheadmickey, @whatwouldmickeydo, @whatthebodygraspsnot, @gallawitchxx, @howlinchickhowl, @you-are-so-much-better-than-that, @squidyyy23, @sleepyfacetoughguy, @sickness-health-all-that-shit, @7x10mickey, @y0itsbri, @creepkinginc, @mishervellous, @arrowflier, @grumble-fish, @xninetiestrendx, @thisdivorce, @too-schoolforcool, @energievie, @vintagelacerosette, @crossmydna, @rereadanon, @deedala, @michellemisfit, @harrowhark-a-vagrant, @thepupperino, @scurvgirl, @callivich, @captainjowl, @whaticameherefor, @auds-and-evens, @tanktopgallavich, @juliakayyy, @transmickey, @milkovetti, @palepinkgoat, @deathclassic, @milkmaidovich, @stocious, @ardent-fox, @mmmichyyy, & @purplemagpie 💛

[dnangelic]

A quick and dirty RP policy guide

Bold all that apply to you and your blog. Italics if you’re on the fence about something. Either reblog or repost. Feel free to add anything I may have missed in the appropriate category, or recategorize something that is in the wrong place!

My blog is ______

Open to all

Semi-selective

Selective

Moderately Selective

Highly selective

Exclusive ( ^ idc for any of these labels for myself tbh whats below is more important🏃‍♂️ )

Only going to RP with mutuals

Mostly going to RP with mutuals ( if you have a sideblog that's fine! )

Indie

Affiliated with a group

Spoilers free (it's a 30 year old series nobody pays attn to anymore though??? dark's been dead for over 10 slutty slutty years 😭 laksjlkdjg)

Spoilers tagged

Spoilers mostly tagged

I will RP with ______

Any fandom

Most fandoms (there are a few i'm uncomfortable with!)

Only fandoms I know

Mostly fandoms I know

Only people in my fandom (aslkdjf all five of them?? 🥺)

OCs

OCs with no fandom ties

OCs who are related to/know my character in their backstory

Only one version of any particular character

People who have the same muse as me

People who do not have a rules page

Multimuse blogs

People in RP groups

Indie RPers

When RPing, I like to use _______

Paragraphs

Shorter forms of text (i get very bored of single one-liner exchanges very fast!)

*Action* (dark will text like this. errybody watch out for teh glompz XD sorry)

Icons

Gifs

Gif icons

Formatted text

Whatever my partner is using

My own style regardless of my partner’s reply ( i'll usually match paragraph structure + text size of my partner but very rarely i can't be bothered alsdkjlg. )

I will ship with _______

No one

Anyone

Chemistry

Select ships

OCs

Others of my own muse (this goes for dark x daisuke, not just dai x dai (or dark+dark) too. i don't do any of that romantically ever ❌)

Crossovers with characters from different fandoms

Only one version of a particular character

One person in my main verse

Multiship, all ships independent of each other & main ship

One main/canon ship within my main verse

My blog WILL contain ______ in its content

Fluff

Light fluff

Angst

Gore

Violence

Smut

Blood

Torture

Shipping

Death

Dark humor

Cheating

Assault

I will follow ______ back

Everyone

Only some people

Most people

Only people in my fandom

Every RP blog

Only people I actively wish to RP with

People who do not post a lot of OOC (i love ppl who can't stop talking ooc abt their muses actually, but i don't like too much random irrelevant content, esp if it's untagged)

People whose posts I am comfortable with on my dashboard

To RP with me, you should _______

Follow back

Answer an open

Message me OOC (i'm very very spotty and slow/negligent with ooc messages due to my bad eye health/short free time timeframes so it helps to skip small talk if you message me specifically through ims or discord!)

Message me IC (i try to at least get my inbox completely free and clean asap, so asks are always your best bet if u want the fastest response to something!)

Make a starter (as long as we're mutuals, random starters are completely ok! tag me in whatever whenever. )

Answer my starter

Send in a meme

Like a starter call (i don't usually reblog memes or make starter calls! i do try to like others' calls though and sometimes send in memes or random unprompted asks! i often respond IC-ly a lot to replies on my posts! if you reply to a reply i make on your post IC-ly, (or otherwise tbh) i will probably turn it into a proper interaction thread!)

Plot with me

Other:

I practice reblog karma with memes

I expect reblog karma with memes

I expect my rules/about to be read

I always read the rules/about before following/interacting

If you follow me, I would like my triggers tagged

I expect all smut to be beneath a read-more

I am multi-muse (i kind of am, kind of am not, but i don't reaaaally consider myself one due to the bizarre way dark and daisuke.... well. work. 'i don't get it' appearances and superficials aside they're genuinely the same character, have the same motivations, conflicts and inner feelings about themselves, bonding with one is bonding with the other, relationships or dynamics can potentially end up repeating if you treat them separately as a duo instead of a whole single unit, which is ehhh to me. if that makes sense!)

I do not wish for my OOC posts to be reblogged

I do not wish for my threads to be reblogged by those not involved

I expect post length effort to be matched

I expect icons/gifs to be used in a reply if I have used them

I don’t expect post length to be matched, but I will try to match your own.

I am patient when waiting for replies and expect the same courtesy. (you can also just drop stuff whenever forever! i dont mind at all. alternatively if there's something you want to see moved along, feel free to tell me you're dying to continue a certain thread/scenario and i'll push it to the top of my priorities✨)

[thecatspasta]

NEW INTROPOST

[New intropost]

Haii, Im Rosette and the fine owner of this blog

This blog is supports Palestine and will block anyone whos neutral or for Israel

My pronouns are they/he (among others) and Im somewhat aroace

Im an artist and animator with a special interest in the Magnus Archives, Malevolent, Mother Mother and How To Train Your Dragon. I have autism and ADHD along with a few other things and my memory is ass so dont be surprised when I forget everything

My tagging system is:

#pasta scribbles - My art tag #garlic breath - Rambling tag, normally not reblogs #dragon!au - Dragon tma au. I turned everyone in tma into dragons #pasta's social life - Posts related to my friends (new tag, not used much) #youre only dreaming - my mental health/venting tag

My current interests are:

The Magnus Archives Malevolent Jack Conte Mother Mother Radiohead

And a lot more!

My PUBLIC sideblogs areee:

@pastasrebloops - where I reblog stuff (used when i have an active hyperfixation and want to reblog art and keep my main somewhat clean) @pastamurdercats - my warrior cats sideblog. All warrior cats content goes here. This is kept separate for personal reasons @cupboard-of-npd - mental illness blog. I talk about myself for extended periods of time and reblog stuff relating to mental health @pastadrawstma - TMA art goes here. Posts everyday at 3am NZST

Those are the only ones that I regularly use, so you can follow them if you want. There are 3 other blogs but Im really only sharing those with friends and mutuals I trust

BYI under cut

I am a minor, do not interact if you are 18+, NSFW or minors DNI

I have narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) and while its not the theme of this blog, it does come up a decent amount. Im can be incredibly attention seeking and self centered. If that bothers you dont follow :3

Do not follow me expecting one specific type of content forever, I hyperfixate on many different things

The word narcissist being used as an insult or an adjective or literally anything that doesnt refer to narcissistic personality disorder makes me INCREDIBLY uncomfortable, do not follow me if you do this. (same with believing in narcissistic abuse)

I do not want to participate in discourse and will not. I have my beliefs and I will discuss those among close friends, do not ask me what my opinions on stuff is

If I have gotten something wrong PLEASE tell me about it in PRIVATE. Not only am I more likely to see it but I am also more likely to give you a proper response rather than just deleting everything

Please never tell me about issues you have with stuff I enjoy, that normally results in me getting defensive and blocking you

I am uncomfortable with being called empathetic, as I am not so please avoid calling me that

Art is tagged as #pasta scribbles and rambling is #garlic breath

Carrd is here

That should be all, thanks for checking out my blog!!

[willel]

Since I'm sure there will be a lot of new people from Twitter, I want to personally say welcome, but also please don't make the shipping wars any worse. Lol

You can do that by tagging correctly, blocking people you don't like, and muting tags that upset you. Tags are like folders. When people tag correctly, it's like opening a book with only the things you like on an endless school. Very handy.

Are you making a post about your favorite ship? Excellent! Tag it correctly. Do not tag a bunch of irrelevant tags as that's considered spamming. Your tags should look like:

#shipname #charactera #characterb #whatever else you want that is actually related to the post

By the way, this isn't twitter. Tags can have spaces in them. You can write a whole ass paragraph almost. It's enouraged to do so!

Also, this isn't TikTok. "Unalive" and other censored words for the "algorithm" are dumb and pointless. There is no algorithm. Use the right words so that people can filter what they don't want to see.

Are you writing a negative post about a ship you don't like? Well that's a waste of time but you do you, just tag it correctly. Your tag should like like:

#anti-ship #dont mention the ship in any other way! It could pop up in their tags when those shippers are trying to do their own thing

Don't cross post KNOWING your post can upset someone. Don't play coy. Don't play dumb. Don't start drama on purpose. If you're bored and want some action, why not get a real hobby instead of fighting on the internet?

If a tag is meant for a platonic ship, then you should find the proper romantic ship version of that name. If another character or pairing has nothing to do with your post, then keep it in your pants and don't tag them. It's rude and could earn you some blocks.

That is the proper tagging etiquette for tumblr.com. You can mute any tag you want by visiting your settings and adding a tag to filtered tags and/or filtered content.

Anon hate is a thing of the past. Grow up. You can send anonymous or faced questions to almost any blog you want. You can also turn off that feature entirely if you don't like it.

If you don't like someone, you can select the three dots on top of their posts and block them. You can save yourself a headache if you learn to curate your experience~

Here in Tumblr, there is no reliable algorithm. More than likely, Tumblr won't be showing everyone posts that are relevant to them automatically. You'll have to visit the tags yourself to see what you want to see.

If YOU LOVE SOMETHING, REBLOG IT. Likes work like bookmarks here on tumblr.com. Everyone appreciates likes on their posts, but sadly, that's all it is. A post can die in the sea of irrelevance if no one reblogs it.

You know all those cool popular posts you see with thousands of notes? They only got like that because thousands of people reblogged it.

Do your artist friends, writer friends, and normal friends a favor by reblogging their posts and spreading the good word~. If you consistently reblog good posts on a consistent basis, you'll likely find yourself some cool followers as well who have the same interests as you.

By the way, while you can be a little well known here in Tumblr, you'll never have any clout. Give up now before you even begin. Everyone is an equal here. We're all just fans being fans of whatever content we're consuming that day alright? There are famous people on here, but unless they're chill and breezy, people will tend to chase them away anyway.

Do you want separate your personal blog from your fan blog? Well no need to make a new account, you can just add a sideblog and it's practically the same thing. You only have to log in once. I have at least a dozen active side blogs for every new interest I get very invested in. Great for organization and keeping your main blog for your personal rambles and posts.

By the way, there's no need to tell everyone your name, your phone number, your address etc. This site is anonymous. Enjoy the anonymity! Let yourself be a faceless fan among other faceless fans, keep your personal details safe and private.

And finally, don't be a creepy weirdo. That's pretty self explanatory. If your are a creepy weirdo, stop while you're ahead. You know you're gonna get caught and ousted. You aren't slick, you're just a weirdo.

That is all. This is meant for the Stranger Things fandom but it can be applied to any fandom. Hope this helps.

[army-of-bee-assassins]

back with more questions regarding image descriptions!!

let's say there is an artwork for a fandom that is specific to one country mostly. (Czechia in this example) since the thing the fandom is based on is in Czech. should I write the image description in English or in Czech?

also I've heard somewhere that proper writing should be used in them, is that true? like if the original text is caps lock I should put it to regular. or when no punctuation is used, I should add it.

i hope these aren't stupid, questions. I'm thinking of adding descriptions to all pictures on my art sideblog and I want to do it right :)!!

hi there! sorry for the late response on this one!

so for your first question, i would write the image description in czech in that case! generally speaking, i would write in the language that most of the post's audience will be using. or perhaps whatever language the op was using. you can also do the image description in more than one language (like english and czech for example) if you want. but one language will generally be sufficient.

in terms of proper grammar in image descriptions, i am not sure that it is vital (tho people are welcome to correct me on this), but i believe that it is preferred by some people. i usually use proper capitalization and punctuation in my ids. but again, any id is better than none.

as for correcting punctuation and capitalization when transcribing text, usually the rule of thumb is to transcribe the text as-is, without editing anything. the main exception would be for an honest-to-god typo (like fully a mistake, not a misspelling that was added for comedic effect) that may affect the post's legibility. in that case, you can usually correct the spelling. but otherwise i wouldn't edit the capitalization, spelling, or punctuation. if something would be truly incomprehensible for a screen reader (like something with a lot of words intentionally misspelled), then you might transcribe it as-is, followed by a "translation"/plain text of what it's meant to say.

when it comes to things that are in all caps - there are some mixed thoughts on this. i think these days most screen readers will read all caps just normally, but certain words may instead be read as an acronym. for example, "it" in all caps might be read as "I-T", like the acronym for "information technology." another thing to note is that no screen reader (as far as i'm aware) will make any note of something being in all caps. this means that when all caps are used for emphasis, a screen reader user has no way of knowing that the emphasis was there. lastly - and maybe this is just a personal preference and doesn't extend to other people - i find it kind of difficult to read a long stretch of text (like, more than a few sentences) that is in all caps. for all of these reasons listed, i often like to transcribe all caps with normal capitalization, just with a note that indicates that it was in all caps. for example: "The sign reads: [in all caps] 'do not enter'". these sorts of notes can also be added when all caps are used for emphasis. however - i'm honestly not sure if there's an agreed best practice on the transcription of all caps text. or if there is, i still need to learn about it.

just as a general note for alt text and image descriptions - a great way to learn a bit more about how screen readers work is to try out the screen reader on your phone! pretty much all modern phones have a screen reader in the accessibility settings, and you can set up a quick shortcut to turn it on and off with ease. for my phone, i just hold down both volume keys for a few seconds to turn it on. once the screen reader is on, swipe left or right to change what is highlighted and being read, and double tap to select what is highlighted. there are more settings than that, but that's what you need for just basic navigation. once you've figured out how to use your screen reader, try it out on different tumblr posts to see what it's like, and try it out on alt text or image descriptions that you write to see if they read well.

thanks for the thoughtful questions again!

[cjinxrun]

So nytxwblr isn't exactly a thing is it? I discovered this yesterday when texting my bestie excerpts from wordplay a few weeks ago and she said

At which I found #nytxw was populated by basically one person, with spoilery posts that are deeply confusing to me. Shoutout to that guy. No idea what your deal is.

I've poked fun at the idea of posting my crossword musings before-- I've been solving for over 7 years now, but it's not like I'm a constructor or anything. We will SEE if this becomes anything consistent or not. For now, we'll be playing with post structure and style, and it'll be on my main blog. If I keep going, I'll make a sideblog just for this.

So. Today's puzzle. I need a puzzle to really justify when it's got squares with no crossing. Through a certain lens, the theme (revealed at 63A) is the crossing for those circled squares, but then we run into the major issue: like a BUNCH of these are proper nouns, and WEIRD proper nouns. Also, weird to have a themed Saturday, huh? Didn't expect the showy colors at the end either. Real shocking at 2am...

Spoilers under the cut:

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I solved at 2am when I couldn't get to sleep, but I could NOT fill in the circled squares. When I gave up and turned to Google for the search terms in 52D's clue (Violinist Zimbalist), I had CO___TT_ and I wasn't going to be able to make it to CONFETTI from there, even with the reveal. It was tough, as a Saturday should be, but it didn't feel satisfying because I felt like I needed prior knowledge of EFREM Zimbalist, Edwin MEESE, and Abba EBAN to get to the finish line. It's possible that I could have gotten some rest, come back to it, and gotten TONED from "Fit" and DJ MIC from "Part of a turntablist's headgear, for short." (Side note-- a post-hoc Google confirms for me that no, DJs usually want to use a freestanding microphone, NOT a headset... and DJ MIC is not a real category of mic. Not uncommon in crosswords, but I can be justified that DJM__ didn't get me there.)

I get songs in my head due to clues or entries sometimes. SO check out my daily playlist! Usually it'll be pretty short, maybe only a song or two... connections may not be clear, but it's where MY head goes!

Fun new things I learned:

20A: ULSTER coats? Bring them back in fashion pls, we need more capes.

33A: TABLA. I've seen em, I didn't know what they were called. V cool, love learning about instruments.

42A: Tolkien contributed to the OED? Of course he did.

[justalittleraven]

INTRO POST IN CONSTRUCTION

Hello! Welcome to my blog, you can call me Nihil or Raven, those are my common online nicknames.

I occasionally post gposes of my wols, and while I haven't really RPd with regard to ffxiv before I'm very willing to try.

If you see this, you probably follow me (or are wondering who I am because I liked something (it's probably in my queue btw)) most likely because of:

My main ffxiv wol - Ater Lucidus | Main jobs: Black Mage, Reaper, Astrologian | tag: my ocs - ater lucidus

He's an Au Ra Raen, about 217cm tall with his right eye being purple and the left being a darker purple. He has a lot of lore, but I won't go over that here. He is canonically in a relationship with my partner's wol!

Traits:

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between / Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured/In Between / Uncultured

Loyal/ In Between / Disloyal

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

Idun | Main job: Dancer | tag: my ocs - idun | Gay in practice | Sideblog: @idun-monnawesfv (go there pls)

Elenwe Celebrindal | Main jobs: Paladin, Summoner | tag: my ocs - elenwe celebrindal | Pansexual

She is an elf from the First, not from the Source. Elenwe is a very caring person, being one to always help those threatened by the light, be that in battle or driven from their homes. There was one person she could not protect, however. Ithildin, her first love and partner, was gravely wounded by sin eaters and on the verge of turning when she found them. She gave them the mercy of a proper death.

Traits:

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between / Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured/In Between / Uncultured

Loyal/ In Between / Disloyal

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

I have completed Endwalker, going slowly through Dawntrail! (main story wise, no promises about sidequests/non-job quests)

I will Commit Crimes (also known as modding.)

ASK RULES

- General DNI: no bigotry or hate towards marginalised/minority groups

- No politics. If I bring it up I don't want asks about it either, I'm probably just venting. (I don't expect to post about politics at all though)

- No asks about Miqo'te and Lalafell unless I bring them up, I'm just not much of a fan of them

- Might add more later

If anyone thinks I should add anything, feel free to DM me or send an ask, anon is on! I also have a Discord, feel free to ask for it.

[hidden-1n-the-sand]

Ok I have gotten proper rest so it is time to finish my crazed ramble(is it ramble or rambles idk idc i am MANIC >:D)

Some additional info on the A.U that I forgot to mention yesterday:

Every drone has been programmed to not be able to really see humans, hence why humans look more like shadowy figures in the Disassembly drone’s memories. The reason why they’re programmed this way is to prevent events like revenge killings based on recognition or something.

Out of the three murder drones, G(Grace) is the only one whose memories weren’t completely turned to soup, and she is fully aware of what A.S is. This is also why she tries to kill Kai multiple times. She knows how dangerous and unstable that thing is, and despite her often forgetting M’s…existence she still wants to keep him safe.

Lex speaks German. This is not a really important piece of lore, but I still wanted to mention it.

Teen drones have a command set to true that causes similar side effects to human teens being hormonal. Because CCRP really said “fuck you guys we’re making you capable of going through puberty”

Anyways. A drone’s “sex/agab” is part of their base code and if cannot be changed later on without corrupting the whole thing because CCRP is transphobic or something idk whose stupid idea was to add that but it exists. BUT luckily for the drones, they CAN run a program that basically overrides the base code. There are two different programs that can be used, an HTR command in which the drone can choose what ‘hormones’ they wanna use and an identity command in which you get to add identity label so when other drones scan you that info will pop up.

(Shoutout to that one anon in the MD confession blog that proposed this for trans headcanons and drone biology, i fully believe this should be considered canon. When i find the post I’ll link it btw)

Tbh while I did say that Paul’s gotta be a shitty parent for this, he’s a bit better than Khan. He still leaves his daughter for dead in ep 1 tho. I need to give Kai that trauma. But at least Paul didn’t tell everyone that Kai was grounded instead of banished like Khan did with Uzi(I should note: She banished herself and announced it to the colony, so I have no fucking clue how Khan managed to get the whole colony to believe him. Might be because nobody gives a shit about her).

Paul even tries to go outside to find Kai before getting dragged to a parent-teacher conference. Because even though he didn’t tell everyone that Kai was grounded, everyone sorta forgot that she banished herself and simply assumed that she was skipping school. What a great society /s

Due to different models in programming and technology evolving, such things as mental illnesses, personality disorders, and neurodivergence are common to see in drones

Oh i forgot to mention a very important piece of lore.

Dogs are immortal. This is not only true in this Au, but in the MD canon. So theoretically if Copper-9’s core were to collapse, dogs would be the only beings that would survive it.

oh and also just like Cyn in canon, Ruth intends to destroy Copper-9’s core. Because. Apparently The A.S only craves destruction. It could also be to reach technological singularity . Idk

Anyways. I am honestly tempted to make a sideblog for this just so i can keep on rambling. Idk. We’ll see :D

Anyways- now onto the AUs :D

I ended up choosing the Kai in HF murder drones au(Murder…Kai?), but if you want i can tell you about the Disassembly Drone Kai au too :D

Ok, so here’s the lineup(so far):

Kai as Uzi

Max as N(Serial Designation M)

Grace as V(Serial Designation G)

Alice as J(Serial Designation A)

Lex as Doll(I forgot to mention her in the lore, but she’s a Worker drone whose family was killed by V and is now a serial killer of sorts. She is also a host of the A.S)

Deb as Tessa(one of the few humana that we see in Murder Drones. Yup. Totally a human.)

Paul as Khan(I am. So sorry. But Paul is gotta be a shitty parent in this au. I am sorry Paul)

Emma as Nori(Supposedly dead, killed by murder drones. Another host of the A.S)

Ms. Holloway as Yevana- I am not sure i spelled her name right( Pamela is not gonna be Lex’s mom in this au because Lex would probably be happy to see her mom dead. So let’s just say that she and Hannah got adopted by Duke and Holloway. Another host of the A.S)

Jason as Thad(we love Thad in this house)

Steph as Lizzy

Pete as that one guy whose head was one fire(Rest in peace)

Richie as that other guy who got killed in episode 4

Charlotte Sweetly as Alice

Ruth as Cyn

The LiB as The Absolute Solver

and also CCRP as JCjenson(in spaceeee)

Now, first i want to explain how the A.S works in thie AU:

(since we know next to nothing about the Absolute Solver, I have decided to take creative liberty. Also note that i know nothing about how programs works so all of this could be incredibly stupid)

Different Lords in Black = different types/versions of the A.S(also note: Abilities and level of control the host might have over the A.S depend on the version)

Webby(A.S.Version 1.0): You get almost all the abilities of the A.S, without having to fight for control of your body! Isn’t that great? I’m sure whatever ability that you won’t have isn’t important! Host: Ms. Holloway, Emma

Wiggly(A.S.Version 2.0): Depending on the host, level of control may vary. But over time, the host can learn to control it(or they can try to appease the wrath in hopes of gaining more control, but it won’t do much good). Oh yeah i forgot to mention. Despite how much you might try to completely control it, it can still influence you, and turns your anger or frustration or grief or anything to wrath. Yay

Host: Lex

Blinky(A.S.Version 2.5): It’s similar to wiggly, but it’s practically harmless. I mean all it wants to do is watch.

(Former) Host: M

Tinky(A.S.Version 3.0): Default version of the A.S of the murder drones. Gives you(almost) full autonomy. Version of A.S that ruth CCRP(in spaceeee) used to turn the D.D’s memories to soup.

Hosts: M, V, A

Nibbly(A.S.Version 3.2): A sub program. The reason why A.S hosts need to drink oil. Nobody knows whose idea it was to add that, but it exists.

Hosts: Literally anyone who is an A.S host

Pokotho(A.S.Version ?): Most powerful and uncontrollable version of A.S. Either you can sorta control it, or it will fully overtake you(like ruth). Only version of A.S that will give you an A.S form- which is very similar to the murder drones, though it is more organic and life-like.

Hosts: Kai, Ruth, Emma(former host)

Anyways I realize that this is getting quite long and that it is currently 1:00am here so I will continue info dumping after i get some sleep(this guy will definitely not sleep and will continue to stay awake for the rest of the night looking at the ceiling in hopes sleep comes)

DUDE THIS IS SO COOL!!! SHITTY PARENT PAUL NOOOO also yeah. get some sleep

[burialcloth]

[id: a drawing on a crimson background, of the upper half of a person with long hair, and a mask obscuring their right eye. on the right, the phrase "dogmasks" is written in an serif font. everything is in a red-orange-green color scheme, save for the person's pupil. end id]

WHO —

call me Quail or Cadaver! my pronouns are they/it, and this is my writing/art sideblog. i interact from @fossilbed

i'm primarily interested in paleontology, sociocultural anthropology, and quantum & particle physics, thus my work tends to involve elaborate worldbuilding, speculative biology, and interdimentional fuckery. it features a lot horror themes as well.

english isn't my first language, so i'm not sorry for my mistakes.

WHAT —

SOOT WEBBINGS | (new) adult fantasy. how can we rebuild our homes from charred wood?

two lovers — a tailor and a shrine keeper — have finally settled down amidst their mountains after an arduous wandering, pretending their lives aren't fallen apart at the seams, that the spirits of their homeland have survived the war, and they're not haunted by the youth they have lost. soot webbings features anti-imperialist themes, polemics on culture loss, and what being human really is about. as well as fire worship, rock art and archery.

WHAT THE BIRDS ONCE SANG | xenofiction. there's laughter in the woods tonight.

an universe revolving around my original genus of nimravids, the Philauilurus, and their culture, alongside my mussings on the cognitive discrepancy between a human and a different sapient being. wtbos currently includes two vaguely related books, the most common themes it possesses are reclaiming your identity and your place in society, coming of age and the gutting fear of a predator-turned-prey.

this is not a comprehensive list, but a showcase of projects i focus on the most right now. as i develop my blog further, proper introductions should appear — for now, here's my WIP page. take note that i'm a slow artist!

all said and done, if you're a fantasy, literary fiction, or a soft sci-fi writer, i'd love to see your work! have a good day!

[lordmushroomkat]

Perhaps tomorrow I shall watch Anastasia (1997) again and finally go through and write all those scenes I've had bouncing around my brain.

At very least I should sketch out the base outlines of those scenes even if I'm not up for putting it in proper prose.

Am I fighting the urge to make another sideblog for this project specifically? Yes.

But it's only because I kinda wanna start making posts of my various thoughts from the google doc. It feels better to toss my thoughts to the void than to put them in a box.

It is entirely possible this project will turn out more elaborate than anticipated. Particularly because I also want to make art about it. But elaborate projects are inevitably intimidating for me so for now I'll just see where it goes.

[asteristories]

The future of Nevermoore and this blog

(This isn’t an abandoning announcement don’t worry! 😅)

Edit:

Adding current demo link for ease of access since I’m going to pin this post

PLAY HERE

Edit #2:

But I’d recommend that you guys wait until the reboot to check the demo out because right now it feels very clunky and cringe, and the new version is looking a whole lot better haha. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

Alright...I’ve been meaning to make this for a while now but I kept blanking on what to say. So I hope these thoughts(tm) I’ve ended up forcing out of my head would make enough sense for you all haha. Apologies in advance for the wall of text.

When I started with this IF project of mine, I will admit that I rushed into it. It was my mistake for being too excited and not giving this a proper plan. I had the plot idea of course, but I’m more so talking about me not putting more care into organizing a blog, or even with the demo. I had shared the first iteration of the demo on the COG forum with only an incomplete prologue for crying out loud.  

And because of these things, I felt like it reflected on Nevermoore’s quality during its development. Like, I could never give you guys the content you deserve because I kept going back to edit chapter 1. But at the same time really I’m super grateful for your patience as I did that since I did want the demo to be as best as I can make it.

Decent progress has been for the next update, by the way. I just finished on my edits/restructuring of chapter 1, and will now move on to chapter 2 which will probably see the biggest changes. For those who weren’t aware, I will be combining most of what I had planned for ch3 into ch2 so you’ll at least get to see some new stuff when the update goes live!

And speaking of the update...I’ve been thinking of giving Nevermoore a new start through this. Yes, I know that I sort of did that already with the ch1 rewrite a few months back, but I want an actual fresh start this time. 

What do I mean by that? Well an ‘official’ proper dev blog for one thing. When the update draws nearer, I will be creating a sideblog that will be Nevermoore focused only (Nevermoore-IF is the name I’m leaning towards). With that blog, that is where I’ll also create the long-overdue intro post and put more effort into answering asks.

As for this blog aka @asteristories, I’m probably going to just turn this into a personal where I reblog other authors IFs, writing tips/advice, and maybe even share some of my art and non-IF writing among other things! There are a lot of old asks here, and many of them have been retconned by now. But for the ones that aren’t, I will either reblog them into the new blog or recreate them in a text post haha. (Oof the number of times I say the word ‘blog’...)

There’s other stuff I’d like to get done for NM as well, so to put it simply, this is what you should expect when Nevermoore undergoes its new cycle (like a Phoenix rising from it’s nonexistant ashes sksksksjkl)

I also considered in making a Ko-Fi, but I’ve decided not to worry about that just yet until I have all of these out for you guys first!

Thank you all everyone if you made it this far! And if you have any questions regarding anything I just said with this admittedly big announcement, feel free to let me know!

I love and appreciate each and everyone of my followers and readers, thank you all again for your continuous support and for sticking with me even through all of my rewriting nonsense 💖

[space-ninja-fashion-show]

HI I'm the anon :D only out of convenience since this is a sideblog, so now i can just drag this over to here and Ramble

I personally wouldn't worry much about rivens. A good one to make a mid-tier weapon worthwhile longer is hard to get, a good one for a popular weapon is pretty much impossible to get bc of how disposition works, and either way say goodbye to your kuva. The only rivens i use are for Funny Nonsense, and I'm doing just fine for myself!

(For reference, I'm chugging along on SP when i feel so inclined, and consider Zariman/ESO relaxing)

Prime (including Umbral/Sacrificial) and Arby mods are both important for improving your arsenal though, yes! As long as you don't feel comfortable with Arbies then don't worry about it, they don't break or make anything on starchart, but they're very handy for beyond it (besides the Galvanized mods, Adaptation and Rolling Guard are precious for survivability)

Working on the Zariman will also do you good bc some of the weapons and arcanes you can get from there are really, really strong! It is no mistake that the Laetum became one of the most used secondaries within a year of its release

Unfortunately i don't have much experience with Limbo (making eyes at the next resurgence cycle about this) or the chakhurr (someday i'll get there), but here's a few recommendations if you'd like to try!

Frames:

Lavos: now I don't know if the problems you've run into are along the lines of "staying alive is hard", but Lavos Doesn't Die. He's damn-near indestructable and with a Lot of damage output to back it up. A learning curve for sure but one I found to be very rewarding. It's no wonder he's my go-to frame for Steel Path, being as tanky as he is and with a condition overload mechanic that things just Love dying to

Revenant: probably the no1 tank anyone will recommend to you these days. Step 1: mesmer skin. Step 2: ??? Step 3: profit

(I feel like a fake Nidus Main here but Lavos and Rev are probably easier to get into when idk if you like tanks in the first place)

Wukong: yeah yeah I know that he's become half an insult, but that aside, he's a genuinely very very versatile frame that I think anyone should give an honest try at least once. Fun movement! Self-heal! Big slappy exalted stick! A twin! He's just a fun guy all around

Gara: has some similarities to Limbo in the area defense/CC department but combines it with damage reduction instead of conditional invulnerability. Also things just die if you run into them

Weapons:

Nataruk: if you liked it during TNW and haven't used it much after, go give it a whirl with a proper build (fire rate, multishot, crit, hunter munitions). It tears through Steel Path even in my clumsy hands. Also I'm a big bow enjoyer so I am Living

Cedo: shotgun go brrr. Self-contained condition overload mechanic which means it scales damage really well. Relatively high accuracy and fire rate for a shotgun. My other go-to SP weapon for anything but boss-type enemies

Laetum: pocket sniper that turns into a damage sprinkler if you feed it a snack of headshots. A bit of a hassle to do the whole evolution gimmick but it's worth it for the 50% chance for fuckoff amounts of damage that you get out of it

I use few guns and a million melees and idk what you prefer in your melee, but depending on how you feel about range, attack speed, heavy vs regular attacks; the xoris, gram prime, guandao prime, and quassus are all close to my heart

(Also, I see a rec for Archon Hunts in the notes and i pale at the thought of that. Archon Hunts are lvl100+ even if not with the SP armour/shield boost, and without good enough gear, they fall between "struggle" and "hell". Also, you've got a million easier things to upgrade your arsenal with than archon shards yet!)

Also, how's your operator combat feeling? What amp do you have? Focus schools are a worthy investment as well (and if you end up going into ESO to get used to the difficulty, you will be getting focus along the way!)

If you were struggling with Zariman missions, I'd say stay far away from Steel Path for a while still. Not for any gatekeeping nonsense reasons, but because you likely wouldn't have fun with such a drastic difficulty spike (not only are the levels 100 higher, enemies are tankier even on top of that!) and there is no reason to go kill your fun like that

In the meantime I can recommend trying to get more comfortable with the Zariman missions and Elite Sanctuary Onslaught if you wanna keep climbing up in levels, and moving on to Arbitrations after if that's your cup of tea (Galvanized mods from Arbies are a huge boon for Steel Path as well!)

Oops, sorry this got wordy. I see myself in everyone getting smacked by a difficulty spike D:

If you would like weapon/build recommendations, I'm sure I'm not the only Tenno around who'd love to help either! Good luck, wherever your journey across the Origin System takes you next :)

HI HELLO yes i will ABSOLUTELY stay the fuck away from SP for a good while yet lmao. thank you so much for the advice and where to get better stuff!!! i appreciate it very much bc i feel like yesterday was my first foray into True Warframe Endgame and it was VERY clear i'm not quite there yet lmao

i very much appreciate your stance on games of "have fun even if it's not endgame/skills-based". very refreshing sometimes and 100% in agreement with my own views on videogame difficulty and fun

i've been trying to fill out my prime arsenal and i've been buying up Baro's stock in primed mods every time he pops his head out of the void so far - but I see now that that is an intermediate step into the next thing, which is... rivens? the arbitration things? god i have no idea please feel free to infodump on me. i will appreciate it very much even if it sometimes is a refresher for things for me. god knows i need it. same for the recs - hit me with them. cmon. i'm double dog daring you or whatever the americans say. whats your fav. how do you start constructing a build i have No Clue.

i might even stop trying to Advance for a little bit and just focus on as you said getting comfy with the Zariman - i need to broaden my familiarity with the stuff i've unlocked recently

[arteacactus]

Can we get a sick fic Janus hiding in his room until someone else breaks down the door? Cause he thought no one would care

this is so out of nowhere bc i like never get fic requests here anymore it’s like always on my sideblog hissceit ,, but it’s 10000% welcome and appreciated JDFJFD thank u .. also i apologize for how needlessly wordy this is HAHA i strayed from the prompt like .. a lot

warnings for sickness , the coughs , vomiting, sore throat , etc , the whole shebang-- and some cursing 

-----

It’s not that Janus had never been sick before, it’s just that...

Well, he’d never been sick before.

He wasn’t positive why (which irked him; he hated being in the dark about things, especially things concerning himself), but he had some theories- the most plausible one thus far simply being that while Thomas had always viewed the Light Sides as human, to some extent, he saw Janus as a two-faced snake; a monster kept hidden away in the shadows under his bed. And monsters didn’t get touched by things like disease. So while the others got touched with sickness occasionally, Janus never did.

But if Janus was getting sick now..

That implied that after he told them his name, Thomas started seeing him as somewhat human, too, with vulnerabilities like the rest.

He wasn’t sure just how he felt about that, but he didn’t love it (he liked being untouchable, okay?).

Ah, well, Janus supposed the why didn’t matter much at the moment. He could ponder that after the fact.

Right now was the time to think about how to end it, because it was pure torture.

He was too hot and too cold all at once, his head throbbed and his body ached in places he never knew could ache, his eyes were sore and oozing and his nose wasn’t faring much better. His throat was raw as if he’d spent hours and hours screaming at nothing, and even after trudging his way into the Dark Side’s kitchen for a cup of tea (though it was more like a cup of honey and lemon with a hint of green tea), it felt absolutely no better; in fact, he just felt worse, because he had to leave bed, go downstairs, spend twenty minutes standing around to make the tea, and then go back up the stairs to his room again.

He’d been fidgeting with his blankets for the past three hours; having them on made him too hot, having them off made him too cold, and so he settled for having one leg covered and nothing else (oddly enough, this was actually a good compromise). The air in his room was hot and stuffy which certainly didn’t help- nor did it help his sinuses any, as it made his headache pound worse and his airways were thoroughly blocked off. He dreaded drinking or swallowing anything as it sent the most uncomfortably painful sensation down his throat and rendered him to a groaning, pained mess.

He clutched his pillow weakly, pressing his head into the hot surface. He hated this. Usually, he thrived in the heat, as his room was typically colder than a jail cell, but this time he wanted it gone. He wished it was winter, just so he could full-body launch himself into a mound of snow and sleep for eternity. 

He felt a slight tug, the distinct feeling of someone requesting his presence, and promptly shooed it away. Not only was he just wearing pants, but he was sick, and he’d rather die than show that level of weakness to anybody.

Three days before, when he’d first felt his symptoms come on, he’d briefly considered going to someone for help; perhaps Remus, because he was his best friend, or Logan, because surely he’d know how to handle diseases and how to cure them, or maybe even Patton, because he was a father figure and might have even made him soup- but he had quickly banished the thought. Sure, maybe they knew his name now, but they still really didn’t like him and had absolutely no reason to help him and not laugh at his predicament.

Well. Remus liked him well enough, but he would have just taken his morning star and bashed Janus across the head with it and called it good, so Janus had to pass on that.

Another tug came, a little more forcefully this time, and Janus dismissed it, just as forcefully. For a little precaution, he took a deep breath and waved his hand, locking up his room so no one could rise up/appear in it, nor could they come through his door. The strain it put on him to maintain that lock was almost enough to make him pass out, but he didn’t dare remove it; he couldn’t risk anybody seeing him in this state. 

He forced his body to roll over to the side, pressing his face into his pillow and sighing in relief as his nose unplugged just enough to take a deep breath in. He found himself actually wishing he’d sneeze, just for the temporary relief it brought. 

He pointedly ignored the next few tugs that hit him, though they weren’t as forceful and harsh as the past couple were. He could only assume the only reason they actually wanted him up there was to lecture him, because him being incapacitated like this surely was affecting Thomas in some way that they didn’t like.

Well, sucks to be them, Janus thought in mild frustration, I’m staying right here until this all goes away and I don’t want to die anymore.

Eventually, the incessant tugging slowed to a stop, and then they finally left him alone.

Letting out a relieved sigh, Janus curled his body into a tight ball, cringing at the sticky feeling of his sweaty skin against his silk sheets, and tried to fall asleep.

Thankfully, sleep claimed him easily, and he drifted off.

However easily it came, though, it certainly wasn’t very forgiving. 

He didn't wake up randomly, but he kept getting thrown so many vivid nightmares and odd, fever-induced dreams that he almost wished he was waking up every few minutes, if only to get away from whatever things his mind kept throwing at him.

He wasn’t awake, but he was aware of his own constant tossing and turning, his bed creaking in protest every time he thrashed and threw his body around the mattress, and when he finally did open his eyes (his throbbing head wasn’t very appreciative of it), he realized he’d somehow twisted himself so his head was at the foot of his bead and his blankets had been fully tossed onto the floor. His pillows weren’t faring much better; only two of his usual six remained in place, and they were mangled to death, the rest on the floor with his blankets.

Janus truly couldn’t bring himself to give a damn- instead, he weakly pushed his body upright, trying not to topple over as his head swam, and fell right back down in the proper position. Thankfully, though, his head not touching the pillows in a while meant they were delightfully chilled, and he moaned aloud at the lovely sensation it brought him. Absently he wondered if he should gather the strength to get himself an ice pack or run an ice bath, but thought better of it. After all, he was still part snake; he’d rather not throw himself into a self-induced comatose state from the cold. 

He blindly reached out and grabbed ahold of his bedside clock, a little antique thing he designed himself to fit his aesthetic despite being very poor at reading Roman numerals, and squinted as he tried to decipher how long he’d been asleep for.

He nearly dropped the thing upon realizing he’d slept for eleven straight hours.

He slid it back onto his nightstand and groaned loudly, though it quickly turned into a pained, chest-wracking cough. He couldn’t avoid it; he had to get up and eat something, or drink something, or get literally anything in his body, because whether he liked it or not, that was the only way he was going to get over this thing quicker. 

He managed to move just enough to get up and off the bed (nevermind the fact he nearly fell straight on the floor the second he stood), and took a couple shaky steps towards the door. The moment he reached out to turn the knob, though, the knocking started.

He froze, looking like a deer caught in headlights as he stared wide-eyed at the piece of wood in front of him, the only thing separating him from them.

There was a call of ‘Janus?’ that was so soft, Janus didn’t actually know who it came from; but that didn’t matter now, because the doorknob was turning and fuck, when did he let go of his lock?

Janus snapped his fingers, and managed to summon all but his hat when the door opened and revealed- much to his surprise- Virgil.

Janus and Virgil blinked at each other for a moment, dumbfounded, but thankfully, Virgil didn’t seem to see anything off about him, and just lowered his gaze and shrunk into his hoodie, refusing to meet Janus’ eyes.

“We- uh, they were trying to call you earlier today, you know.” Virgil’s voice was low and gruff, and Janus could honestly say this was the best possible Side to come see him. Remus was loud and shrill, Patton was too cheery and Roman was boisterous- Logan probably wouldn’t have been awful, but with his insistence to look everyone in the eye as he spoke to them, Janus was sure he’d have deciphered what was going on in a second.

“I’m aware,” Janus replied, internally cringing at his rough tone. He cleared his throat, which was screaming in protest at speaking. 

Virgil didn't seem to notice- or if he did, he didn’t care. “Well. You made them worry, and they sent me to come collect you.”

“Worr- Collect?” Janus echoed in confusion, taken off guard by everything Virgil said.

“Yeah, uh, you worried them so now they won’t take no for an answer. You’re gonna have to come with me.” Virgil, at least, seemed a little sheepish saying this, but he also has a particularly determined and frustrated look to him. Clearly, he wasn’t happy being the one picked to come ‘collect’ Janus, and he wasn’t going to take no from him as an answer, either.

“Wh-” Janus was cut off as Virgil gripped his arm, and any protests he could have made died on his tongue as they started moving. Dizziness attacked him with such ferocity that he was honestly astounded that he hadn’t immediately fallen over, and his stomach lurched at the speed they were moving. Of course, he didn’t bring this up, just took a deep breath and pushed through. After all, Virgil was the last person he wanted to know about his current state.

Once Virgil brought them across the line that separated the Dark Sides from the Light Sides, the immediate bright artificial light from the lamps and ceiling lights making his head pound in a way that was even worse than what the red light of the heat lamps in the snake terrariums in his room caused. 

The air here, though, was clear and fresh, and he basked in the coolness of it as it surrounded him. If it wasn’t for the lights, he’d almost be tempted ask to stay for a while.

Once they made it to the living room, Virgil released him from his grasp, and slunk over into his own corner in the stairwell- and Janus found himself standing right next to Logan.

Unfortunately, they were all staring at him.

Time to put your acting skills to work, Janus, he thought to himself as he heaved an internal sigh, and plastered a toothy grin on his face that bared his sharp canines just enough to make them flinch away.

“So. I was summoned?” His throat protested speech, but thankfully his voice came out smooth and silky, not one bit of it hinting towards his predicament.

“Yeah, and you never answered..?” Thomas seemed more concerned than anything, but Janus definitely saw some suspicion on Roman’s expression (he couldn’t blame him, after how his name reveal went), and Patton was more fidgety than usual. Logan, bless him, didn’t seem to be acting any different, and Virgil looked just as bored as he usually was.

Remus, however...

Well, Remus was looking at Janus with a suspicious gaze similar to Roman’s but far more scrutinizing. Janus briefly felt a flare of panic. If there was anyone here to notice he was off, it would be his best friend, who he lived with and saw every day.

“I was resting, Thomas, would you blame your personification of self-preservation for taking a day off for self-care?” Janus’ tone was exasperated. He wasn’t lying, not really; he was resting, and he was taking a day off for self-care.

Just.. more than one day.

“Respectfully, I have to.. what is the term, ‘call bullshit’?” Came Logan’s voice next to him, and he hoped to God that Logan didn’t notice Janus’ feverish tremors. “You’ve been MIA for the past few days, and it’s escalated to the point where Thomas is beginning to react to it. There is something else going on, and we’d like to know what’s going on.”

Ah, yes, for the good of Thomas, Janus couldn’t help but think a little bitterly, Really, I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s not like they’d worry about my wellbeing. “I’m afraid I wasn’t bullshitting you, Logan,” Janus replied coolly, “It was the truth.”

“Then how come your room looked trashier than Remus’?” Virgil’s voice, where earlier it was comfortingly gruff, was now an offputting growl. Despite his words, though, Janus could tell he was trying to act like he didn’t actually care. He took note of that, because Virgil caring about him was odd.

“Rearranging,” Janus replied simply, and hoped they took that alone as an acceptable answer.

Of course, they didn’t.

“You never rearrange,” Virgil’s tone turned accusatory, and then Patton cut in. 

“Well, maybe then that’s why he’s doing it now? For something fresh?” He sounded hopeful, as if he couldn’t wait for this entire conversation to be over. Janus felt similarly.

“I’ve lived with him, Patton, I know him, and it’s not something that happens.” Virgil argued, but this seemed to set off Remus as he cut in with, “And you left, so who are you to claim you ‘know him’?”

This sparked an argument amongst themselves, as they fought over the sudden new topic that thankfully centered around Virgil more than anything, and with Logan, Roman, and Thomas trying to mediate, there was no attention put on him anymore.

Janus took this momentary distraction to let out a sigh of relief, the mix of loud voices and trying to act like nothing was up was doing absolutely no good for his headache and exhaustion. He mourned the loss of his hat, because he could have used that to hide his face away from the lights that were bearing down on him and making his skin feel uncomfortably hot.

Though perhaps that was from all the layers of his outfit.

Unfortunately, though, as the seconds passed, the voices seemed to get louder, the lights got brighter, the clothes got hotter and his stomach was churning, his hands were sweating, his head was pounding his legs were getting shaky oh god his ears were ringing oh fuck fuck stop the noise please turn off the lights please stop please stop-

Distantly, he felt his throat start hurting intensely and he realized he was speaking out loud, stammering out pleads that were growing muffled as everything swamped him. His hands raised to cover his ears, trying to drown out the noise around him, and his legs gave out beneath him. He collapsed, feeling something warm and wet trickle down his face- tears? Was he crying? No, surely he was just imagining the feeling- but before he hit the hard floor, he felt something grab a hold of him, long, spider-like fingers gripping the undersides of his arms like a lifeline. He felt sharp nails and soft ruffles and realized Remus had caught him, he must have run from his spot to catch him before he fell, and Janus felt the stinging gaze of everybody on him. He felt like a mouse that was dropped into a snake’s cage for feeding, cowering beneath the penetrating gaze of the predator before him. The roles were reversed, and he hated it.

He managed to pry open his own eyes- when had he shut them?- and the moment he saw the horrified gazes trained on him, he fled.

He forced himself from Remus’ arms and he vanished, retreating back to his room, where the lights were off and the curtains were shut and the only thing he had to deal with was the light of his snakes’ heat lamps.

The hot, stuffy air attacked him with a vengeance, though, but he couldn’t really bring himself to care. He stripped himself of his clothes again, his skin glistening, heat radiating off of his person. 

He hurriedly locked up his room again, and fell to his knees beside his bed, and retched.

Thankfully, he’d managed to grab his trashcan, but it didn’t make him feel any less humiliated.

He thought he was doing himself a favor, hiding his state from all of them, but from not going to just one of them when he could, he had ended up breaking down in front of all of them. 

Body trembling and chest heaving, Janus collapsed onto the hard floor beneath him, unable to pull himself onto his bed, and curled up into a tight ball.

He wanted this to end.

Janus was so caught up in his misery that he didn’t even notice pounding on his door, all of his senses wrapped up in himself, in his throbbing head and hot skin and burning throat and sore stomach and the sound of his blood pumping in his ears, until there was a deafening ‘crash’ and splinters of wood came flying into his room.

He flinched at the noise and forced himself to sit up, but the sudden movement made him gag, and he found himself panting like a dog trying to cool himself off and calm down his raging nausea. 

There was a barrage of voices at first, but they were quickly hushed- from what, he didn’t know- and then a delightfully cold hand clutched his bicep, and he couldn’t hold back the relieved moan he let out in response.

“I’m gonna put you in bed, okay, Janus?” Came a soft voice- Remus- and Janus didn’t protest as he was gently lifted up by the Creative twin. Admittedly, he didn’t even know Remus could be that gentle, but he was grateful for it nonetheless.

There was some quiet shuffling and the sound of a dull ‘smack’ and then someone cursing softly, but soon enough Janus was set down on a set of smooth cotton sheets, clean and cool, and an absolute blessing.

“Jan-Jan, why didn’t you tell us you were sick?” Remus’ tone was scolding, like a parent to a young child (ironic, considering Janus was the one who raised Remus), and Janus opened his eyes just enough to see Remus’ face swathed in the shadows of his room. 

“Weak,” Janus croaked in reply, his voice wrecked, “Di’n.. wan’ see.”

“Your pride is going to be the death of you,” Remus sighed, and Janus heard some other voices pipe in.

“We would have helped you, Janus,” Thomas sounded sad, almost regretful. For what, Janus would never know.

“Indeed,” Logan’s voice was a comfort, Janus was willing to admit. “In fact, I will begin researching how to best care for this as soon as possible, so you are in utmost comfort while you recover.”

“I’ll make some soup,” Came Patton’s quiet promise, “And water, and tea.”

“I changed your bedsheets,” Roman seemed shy, “If you need me to, I can try and make a set that keeps you cooled down.”

Janus almost moaned aloud at the thought, and Roman must have seen it in his expression because he perked up right away. 

“Sorry for, uh, dragging you away so forcefully,” Virgil muttered, and Janus just managed to flap his hand dismissively. 

“You didn’ know.” He mumbled weakly, and he felt Remus’ cool touch brush away hair that clung to his sweaty forehead. 

“And now we do. So we’re going to take care of you, because we care about you.” He promised in a tone with no room for argument, with the others murmuring in agreement behind him.

And for once, Janus believed him, and let himself be taken care of.

[astrophysicist-guitar-god]

The Queen Shared Closet

My Queen Shared Closet post from yesterday turned out to be pretty popular,  though in hindsight it makes sense since so many of us love spotting (and hunting down!) pictures where one of the guys is wearing something one of the other fellas has worn.

So!

The Queen Shared Closet has been born! 

[Edited to add: The above is the correct, working URL. Only on tumblr could I be so publicly inept.]

I’ve been threatening myself to create a sideblog for Brian’s outfits and Roger’s shoes for a while now, so now is the time.

The blog is only about ten minutes old, but these are the kinds of posts I’m thinking of:

Verifiably shared clothes. Hey, money’s tight when you’re an up and coming baby rock star. Stretch those dollars (or pounds, in this case) and share those outfits!

Multiples of the same item! Tour jackets come to mind.

Jewelry! Though they didn’t share jewelry as much as they did clothing -- that we know of, anyway -- a few shared pieces come to mind. 

Queen-adjacent sharing. I can think of at least three instances where someone Queen-adjacent is pictured wearing an item worn by someone who was Queen-proper.

Non-Queen classic rockers pictured wearing items Queen members were also spotted in (possibly?). Still thinking about that one.

Edited to add: Also, where clothes might have been sourced!

I’m thinking of specific tags for the more popular shared items, like the flowered jacket, so they can be accessed quickly for all your “pictures of the Queen dudes in the flowered jacket” needs. I have good intentions, but we’ll see. ;-)

Fair warning, it was just created, so at the moment it’s empty and has no theme or header or anything. Also, no need to follow that one separately, since I’ll more than likely be reblogging from this tumblr. Maybe? Possibly. Probably. Yes, ignore that bit because probably not always reblogging from here, who knows.

Edited to add: Please ignore the above, I have no idea what I was thinking. Yes, follow the Shared Closet please. Again, me = publicly inept.

Why am I doing this? Because, based on the continued response to yesterday’s post, it should be fun. :-) Edited to add...actually, nothing to add here. I fully expect to have fun. :-D